Doron Swade operating Babbage's Difference Engine No 2.

Image number: 10303319

This engine was constructed by the Science Museum in London from designs made by the British computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791-1871) between 1847 and 1849. The main part of the engine was completed in 1991 for the bicentennial year of Babbage's birth, and the printing mechanism was completed in 2000. Doron Swade, senior curator of computing and IT, is seen with it here in the Computing Gallery of the Science Museum. Babbage conceived the engine to calculate a series of numerical values and automatically print the results. Difference Engine No 2 was never constructed in his lifetime. Front view.